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Saturday, January 22, 2011

Does anyone have any idea how many four digit numbers there are between 0000 and 9999? I didn't know either --but I was about to find out.

I googled it...10,000. Oh great.

...for that was going to be number of the possible options to unlock Brillo Man's gps....

We had talked about perhaps purchasing another gps because every time he wanted to use mine, it was also at a time when I needed to use it. Or when he did borrow it, he frequently forgot to put it back in the van and I would find myself ready to leave on a road trip and my gps is nowhere in sight. Several weeks before Christmas, Brillo Man saw an add on Cheapcycle for a Garmin Nuvi gps for only $50. Great deal! When all was said and done, I think he managed to get it for $40. ...even better deal! He brought it home, along with the paper on which was written the four digit code to unlock it and proceeded to then continue to use my gps because he didn't want to take the time to figure out how to work this new one.

Two days ago, he knew he'd be driving in unchartered territory and decided to use his new gps. He handed it to me and asked me to program it. No problem. What's the passcode? "Um, I don't know....it was written down on that piece of paper that the lady gave me when I bought it." And where would that piece of paper be? No clue. Sometime over the course of the weeks that have passed since he bought the thing, he's misplaced the paper with the passcode. surprise.

Okay. There has got to be an easy solution to this problem. I picked up the phone and called Garmin Tech Support. Oh yes - just drive to the location where the security code was set. ...anywhere within 164 ft of that location will unlock the gps. That's fine, except the person from whom he bought the gps lives 40 miles from here. Oh, wait, Brillo Man said that she moved and it may have been set at her OLD house which is only 20 miles from here. right. The Garmin people said that we could also send it to them along with the signed bill of sale and for the bargain price of just $89 they would unlock it for us. right. That's more than twice the amount we paid for the gps. Can't we send it it without a signed bill of sale? No, they want proof that we didn't steal it. (At this point, I'm thinking that I'll FORGE a bill of sale. Who would know?!) We ended our conversation with tech support, resigned to the fact that we'll have to drive the 20 miles to the old house location - or the 40 miles to the new one, in order to unlock the gps so that Brillo Man can stop borrowing mine. Or...there IS one other option....

....which wouldn't have been TOO bad except you had to wait 20 seconds after you punched in a number...7438 ...nope ...20 seconds ....7439 ...nope ....20 seconds......you get the idea. At this rate - it will take over 55 hours to punch in all 10,000 possibilities.

...Believe it or not, I spent the better part of the day (and evening) punching numbers - and punched in the entire 1000 of the ones beginning with a "7" (because I just felt like there must be a seven in the combination...) Today, I got up and started punching numbers. Again.

Brillo Man just looks at me and shakes his head. "You're having way too much fun with this...." "It's kinda like a challenge now." "I know, that's what scares me." ...a few minutes later he gets on the computer and sorts through all his email until he finds one from the woman who sold him the gps. And then proudly announces that he's sent an email and we should have the answer shortly. great. Now I can stop punching numbers.... except I don't. He's right. I AM having way too much fun with this.

He retreats downstairs to his man cave. Thirty minutes later I hear him call from the abyss...."DEB!" "what?" "...(unintelligible)..." "I can't hear you." ..."Olivia, go downstairs and ask your Dad what he wants." Olivia yells from the chair where she's sitting right next to me... "DAD! Mom wants to know what you want!" Pretty soon my cell phone rings. It's Brillo Man. "What?" "1560" "1560?" "Yep." "Okay wait....1560...nope." "Well, that's what she said she thought it was." "Well, she's wrong." "Are you sure you didn't already change it?" "No, because if I would have changed it, I would have changed it to the number that we always use for our passcodes and it's not that number." "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Well, did you try that other number?" (meaning the OTHER number that we sometimes use for our passcode.) "No, but wait a second...xxxx...YES!!!! It's that other number! I can't believe it. One of us must have changed it!" "Well, hadn't you tried that other number before?" "nope." "Why not?" "Because I thought that since it wasn't the first number that it probably wasn't the second number..." oy vey.

Anyway...now we have unlocked the gps. And Brillo Man is on the road...with the new gps... He has two stops to make. I programmed the second stop into the gps. I asked him if he wanted me to program the first stop... "No, I know exactly where I'm going." "Are you sure? Because I've unlocked this gps. You might as well use it." "Nope - I know where I'm going." "Good. Well, drive carefully. I love you guys - I'll see you later."

...so Olivia just called me on the telephone from the truck. We were having a nice conversation until she said, "Oh, wait, I have to go." "Why?" "Dad's lost and he needs the phone..."

About Me

My favorite way to spend my time is BEING A MOM! Olivia is 15 - and embracing the teen years with gusto (ahem). I'm also an artist and up to my EARS in graduate school - almost finished! When I'm through with school I will be a licensed professional counselor with a concentration in art therapy. My husband, Randy and I have been married for 16 years - He is the love of my life! We live in the country on a magnificent 14-acre parcel of land - We are blessed beyond belief --and God is good - ALL the time! This blog is where I can share any thoughts that might be rattling around in my brain and you can decide if I'm sane or not.